We Are Not Mureeds, Maybe Lovers?

From the Teachings of Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

Shaykh Nurjan Mirahmadi

Sufi Meditation Center, Vancouver, BC

http://vimeo.com/39780769

Ati ullaha wa ati ur-Rasul wa ulil amri minku. Bismillahi Rahmaani Raheem obedience to Allah (SWT) is supreme and from the Holy Qur'an Allah (SWT) is teaching us that obedience is very difficult, so He gave us a way from 'ati ullaha' to' ati ur-Rasul' (as) and to all the prophets who were trying their best to be in obedience to Allah (SWT). And then Allah (SWT) gives the third connection which is to the ulul am. It means follow the ulul amr they are in obedience to the prophets (as), and the prophets (as) are in obedience to Allah (SWT) thereby giving us a rope to hold on to. And in days of difficulty and trials  

Mawlana Shaykh is teaching that many storms are coming and we should be prepared. In dunya we have preparation for storms; you have to keep food supplies, oil and batteries and anything you may need for any kind of danger. And many times before, we talked about this, and we will mention again today; if you really believe with your heart and with your faith that danger and storms are coming, you would not make a camp on the street in that difficulty, and say that you would find safety there. Allah (SWT) says, "No, you would be wiped out in one second. If you believe your shelter is out in the open, the storm is going to take everything. If the winds and the Earth and the Oceans do not take you, then the savage hearts of very cruel people will."  

A savageness and wildness is going to be unleashed in which there is no safety except underground in caves. And Allah (SWT) is saying that in times of these difficulties and oppression, "Move into the Cave, move into the shelter." And they begin to teach that Allah (SWT) is giving us a Rahmah: "I am sending you to the schools of tarbiyah," and these schools of tarbiyah are teaching with perfection how to find safety; how to reach inside the Cave and seek a shelter. We begin with saying, "Ya Rabbi as everything is going to be destroyed on the surface, I am only going to find safety within my heart; I am going to go deep into my heart to find the Light of Islam, the Light of Iman and the Light of Ihsan and perfection." And only the Light of Perfection will save us.

So then Awliyaullah are teaching us that if you want to accompany them it is not so easy, by just calling ourselves mureeds and saying, "I am a mureed of Mawlana Shaykh." It's impossible. We are the people of love, the muhibeen. The Ahlul Mureed have been through such difficult, difficult testing and their love, and their dedication, and their commitment is tested. They have been grinded and crushed; they have been taken through poverty, and through sickness, they have been taken through many difficult events and Allah (SWT), the Prophet (s) and the ulul amr are all watching. Allah (SWT) is looking and asking, "Is this in My obedience?" Adabani Rabbi fee ahsana ta'deebi, Prophet (s) is looking and seeing, "Is this one with the perfection of the character? Does he have the best of morals, is he the moral exemplar? Is he the one who sets the example of the Way?" And then from the Prophet (s) the ulul amr are watching every student, every muhibeen, every seeker, and every lover of the Path who are trying to move towards that safety, they are all being watched closely.

And this is a reminder to myself that many people on the Internet in different places consider themselves to be mureeds of the Shaykh and mureeds of the Sultan of all Awliyaullah, yet it is very difficult to do. In the Naqshbandia Way to be a mureed Mawlana Shaykh is describing; the first sign of excellence and for them to grant mureediya, means those mureeds are moving towards the oceans of Guidance; they are the Shaykhs of Guidance;

and their ears have been opened, their eyes have opened and they are not 'blind' anymore.

That level of perfection in the level of being a mureed of the Naqshbandia Way is something that Mawlana Shaykh is reminding us is not that easy to achieve.  

The first sign of that opening means that their hearts have to be open. How is it that if they have reached moral perfection, their heart is not open?  

And if the heart is not open,

the ears are not yet open,

the eye of the heart is not yet open and lisan ul-Haqq is yet not moving through the tongue.

It means for the heart to be open and moving towards that level of belief, the first sign of that hearing is; they are able to hear inspirations within their consciousness and within their heart that is guiding them towards the goodness. The Shaykh is inspiring within the heart what the Prophet (s) wants, and the Prophet (s) is inspiring within the Shaykh what Allah (SWT) wants; it means it must be complete, Bismillahi Rahmaani Raheem, Ati ullaha wa ati ur-Rasul wa ulil amri minkum.

So the first sign of that level of perfection is that student, that muhib's heart is opening, he isa lover of the Way. If the heart is not opening then we must move that category aside. From the level of the heart that opens, Mawlana Shaykh is describing, "If your heart is opening, then you must be hearing." And the first level of hearing is hearing that deep consciousness of what is right and what is wrong; hearing the inspirations of the Shaykh "Go deeper," and all the marif'aa and knowledge and teachings will be taking place within the Cave, the heart, and not in the external; the association, that is just a means in which the Shaykh begins to open these Lights and these energies.  

The Ahlul Marif'aa, the people of realities, take this opening and they begin to dive into the connection within the heart and from the heart they begin to go deep within the oceans of what the Shaykh is conveying. That is why Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (Q) is always saying, "Pearls and coral." Pearls and coral are the treasures of the ocean, and there are vast and endless Oceans of Allah (SWT)'s Mercy which has no beginning and no end. And Mawlana Shaykh is describing, "If you want realities Allah (SWT) will throw you into that Ocean, go for the treasures!" Those treasures are that example of pearls and corals. It means you have to be a diver in that ocean.

Most of our lives we do not do any diving, we do not do any contemplation, meditation or tafakkur, or accounting, muhasaba and we are picking up the shells on the side of the ocean and saying, "We have something." But the shells by the Oceanside have already come out. Mawlana Shaykh is reminding that the Ahlul Marif'aa, the people of Gnosticism, the people of depth and those who go deep within the reality are constantly diving, and they know that these afflictions and difficulties are a reminder to them, "If you look out the window and you still see a tornado, its still not safe for you; this is not your abode, don't make this your Paradise. Go deep within your heart and seek these treasures within the heart."

And then Mawlana Shaykh is always reminding us of a story that a time of difficulty came to Sayyidina Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (Q); he was sitting in an association and a mayor came and said, "We are going into a battle, a tremendous difficulty is coming and I need to make a call for people to come and prepare for it, but all the men of the town are your students. What am I going to do Sayyidi? They are telling us we need some men." And Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani (Q) said, "Not my students, they are the lovers of the Way. But not all of them are like that so I will prepare a test and show you which one of my students you can not touch, the rest you can take where ever you want." And then he called his helper and said,  

"Prepare a tent for me at the top of that hill over there, and bring some lamb meat filled with blood and hide it in the tent and then sit and wait." And the servant went up and prepared the tent, and brought the lamb meat which had a lot of mushy blood, and then he sat there waiting for his master. And Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani (Q) called all the students saying, "O come, come all my students," and as they always teach by example, thousands of his followers came and he gave a suhbah that the mayor needed men to go into service for a battle. And he said, "I am going to leave behind some people, but I want to know your level of dedication to me; who is willing to sacrifice themselves for me?"  

Immediately all the students began to shake.

And he said, "I am going to go into the tent and wait for one of you to come and then we will begin our testing." And that servant who had dedicated himself to his service his whole life was called, "O Abd'Allah come into the tent you will be the first one to sacrifice yourself for me, then I will call everyone from these mureeds and see who is going to be of service to me." So he called him into the tent and said to him, "Come in and start screaming, and then we will cut the meat and let the blood flow down the hill." The tent was over a steep hill and he started screaming and Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (Q) kept screaming back something and the blood was flowing down the hill.  

The mureeds saw that and they ran; all of them ran except two. And he looked out of the tent and saw that everybody had gone except those two. He said, "Okay, you come in," and he brought one into the tent and said, "Sit here and begin to scream." And that mureed began to scream and he released more blood from the animal that was already there, and more blood started flowing down the hill, and the other one was shaking and shaking but still his heart was not moving and Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (Q) looked out of the tent and saw him and asked, "You are still here?" "Naam Sayyidi." He said, "Come with me," and he called the mayor and said, "These two are my students, the rest are yours, you can have them."

It means that tariqah is not an easy path. We are lost in the ishq, the love; we are muhibeen, the lovers of the Way. And a reminder always for myself that when we begin to think we are mureeds but still we don't understand the difficulty and the testing of tariqah; these storms that are coming are all a practise for us; that one Shaykh is saying one thing, another Shaykh is saying another thing, and another Shaykh on top of that is saying another thing. And Mawlana Shaykh is always reminding that you have no business in what they are doing;

their job is to make everything confusing and to make this dunya a place with no tranquility for you.  

If your life is based on the surface and you ask, "Why is it that Shaykh not so loving towards the other Shaykh? Why doesn't this Shaykh praise that one? Why don't we all hold hands and sing nice songs together?" Allah (SWT) is saying, "Test them." It is not a kindergarten where you hold hands and kiss each other. Test them to see who is really with you; see if they are just taking up space and holding hands, what is it for?" These Awliyaullah are traveling the world and collecting followers in the millions and their rope is huge and heavy. And Awliyaullah are teaching, and  

Mawlana Shaykh is teaching that Allah (SWT) is saying, "Shake the rope, it's got too many things on it; shake it and let's see who is really going to be with you." And you see mashaAllah the Qutb al-Mutasarrif, our love and head is always at the feet of Mawlana Shaykh Hisham, his rope is huge and the followers are in the millions all over the world. And every test comes and they shake and shake the rope to see who is going to stay with the Shaykh. And every other one comes to judge, to think and use their mind, and then they remind us, "Look, you came to sacrifice yourself; you are going to be tested in that sacrifice," Qul, in as-salaati wa nusooki wa 'l-mahya wa mamati, lilahi Rabbil 'Alameen and that we are asking, "Ya Rabbi make us to be halaal for Sayyidina Mahdi (as) and let us lay our head upon that Way."

These nasheeds and these salawaat that we are reciting, we are asking, "Ya Rabbi let us die on the tariqah of love of Sayyidina Muhammad (s)." Then the Awliyaullah are saying, "You are going to be tested with your life, with your wealth, your possessions, with your family and with everything that you believe in, and they are going to shake the rope," because they are not trying to collect stones; any body can go to the beach and take a bucket and collect a whole bunch of stones. But Awliyaullah collect the stones and then Allah (SWT) says, "Let Us see amongst the stones which ones are precious, which are semi-precious, which of them are gold?"

It means they begin to shake the rope and our lives begin to shake.

And Allah (SWT) is saying to us this is a very dangerous time because this dunya is shaking now. So when they say storms are coming, it means physically people are in danger with what is coming and for the people of marif'aa, Gnosticism and those who love the Prophet (s), Allah (SWT) is shaking their hearts. If you found that Qutb, and your love is for that Qutb, then if you dedicate yourself to serve that Qutb you tie your entire being to his feet and don't bother with anything that you hear. In the midst of any storm that comes, if you decide that you will take your rope off and run down the street, you will be blown away because the Prophet (s) is testing you; they are testing to see how loyal and dedicated you are and if you are willing to serve with your entire existence, and to be in service to them. You have no business between the Kings, they know what they are doing, and we are ghulams. And if you bring ghulams into your house and they say, "O who owns this?" What does it have to do with you to ask who owns this? "Who is the boss here and who is the next one in charge here?" What does it have to do with you who the next one in charge is? We are ghulams, and a ghulam has nothing to do with that and he is not at that level of asking who the next one is, or who this one is or that one? Allah (SWT) says, "You serve that Qutb and with your life and death, always be in service to him." And we tied our hands and feet and our entire being to the service of Qutb al-Mutasarrif. This is a training facility for the love of Qutb al-Mutasarrif.

And everyone who watches these videos and looks at the websites, they are in the thousands, they are training to be of service to Qutb al-Mutasarrif to serve those who are serving the Sultan al-Awliya (Q); there is no way you can be of service to the Sultan (Q). They teach us from the beginning of every reality that 'Audhu billahi min-ash Shaytani rajeem is to open the reality of Bismillahi Rahmaani Raheem. Where is 'Audhu billah? Allah (SWT) is teaching, "Seek refuge in those who are already in My refuge." Why are you going to make it so hard to find where Allah's refuge is; seek refuge in those already serving Allah (SWT).

So we came to the love of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), and we know that the shade and the dome of protection for the Prophet (s) is already with Allah (SWT). And then the same reality keeps dressing down. Why do you have to make your plans and your thoughts so big? Allah (SWT) says, "I have made you and inspired within your heart to be ghulam." So then whose ghulam are we? We ask, "Ya Rabbi put it in my heart to be ghulam of the True One," and Sultan al-Awliya Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (Q) said this is Qutb al-Mutasarrif Mawlana Shaykh Hisham (Q). And alhamdulillah Allah (SWT) destined for us to have a love that is never ending and Allah (SWT) is saying, "You serve the one who is serving the Sultan and the Sultan is serving Sayyidina Muhammad (s), and Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is serving Me, and you will be tested with that love."

If every five minutes you want to bounce between different people and then take your rope directly to the head authority, you will eventually cut that too saying, "I am going to cut the head authority I am going directly to Prophet (s)." And then when you get to that thought in your mind you will say, "O why I need the Prophet (s)? I will go directly to Allah (SWT)." So then you are being shareeq with Shaytan because Shaytan had that same philosophy, "Why do I have to make sajda ihtiraam to Sayyidina Adam (as)? Why do I have to bow down to Adam; I worship the Wahid, the Oneness of Allah, and I go directly to Allah (SWT)."

And tariqah comes and teaches us ihtiraam and tashreef, "respect" and "adab" is to be nothing; you are nothing. "Ya Rabbi if I am nothing then I am a ghulam and I am in need of someone to serve," so then you serve the shaykhs and they begin to teach us that the service to the Shaykh is with your entire being; you will be tested with that. As soon as they come to get something from you, O everybody runs! And when they go they say, "Ah, he wasn't a real Shaykh."

Why did you hear from another Shaykh who said this Shaykh is not a Shaykh or is it that when we fail tests we begin to determine what level the Shaykh is at?  

And that becomes a big difficulty upon our selves and upon our lives. We pray that Allah (SWT) inspires within our hearts to be secure and we are here to be of service to Qutb al-Mutasarrif waiting for the arrival of Sayyidina Mahdi (as). Whatever storm is going to blow, we go down and hide. Keep out of the politics, and keep out of the way, and keep out of the information, and we keep ourselves tied to Qutb al-Mutasarrif and inshaAllah he blesses us and takes over us, and washes us, and presents us to the Holy face of Sultan al-Awliya Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (Q), and that Sultan al-Awliya will be happy with our love and dedication and present us to the presence of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Subhaanaka Rabbil izzati amma yasifoon wa Salaamun 'alal mursaleen wal Hamdulillahi Rabbil 'Aalameen.

The Diplomacy of Kings

Naqshbandi Haqqani Digest for naqshbandi@googlegroups.com

We have said before, and we talked about it earlier today, that this way is a very delicate way – like a spider web. A spider web is an amazingly beautiful creation, both in its intricacy and its symmetry, but how often in our lives have we destroyed them? The etiquettes of the Sufi path are providing the silk for a beautiful web that the Shaykh is weaving on your soul, so you must be careful how you speak, and how you interpret the words of your teacher. Everytime the Master addresses an association, his speach is like a ballet of words filled with amazing subtleties that may not reveal themselves for many years, so you must listen very carefully at all times because the words of saints have many layers of meaning. In one association they are able to individually address the hearts of everyone listening, and speak to each one according to that person's level of
understanding.

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham is teaching that for every letter in the Holy Quran there are 12,000 knowledges. The Quran contains about 600,000 letters, so for every letter these saints are able to take 12,000 knowledges! Naqshbandi saints are inheriting from that secret, and everything they say is filled with oceans of wisdoms.

We are still in kindergarden, so there is no way we are going to understand the level they are speaking from.
Every Master, must say he is nothing, that he is not a Master, and that the only Master of the Naqshbandi Order is The Sultan , Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani. Mawlana is saying that our connection must be to The Sultan, our meditation must be to The Sultan - not to him - because he is saying he is not the focus ; he is nothing; he is just a student of Shaykh Nazim. It is true – Shaykh Nazim is the The Sultan and he is the head of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi Order, but don't for a second believe that Mawlana Shaykh Hisham He is Qutb al MutaSarif! The Shaykhs always say that they are nothing because they are Masters of Annilation. So when they say they are just students, or that they are nothing, they are saying it out of humbleness. But in reality, these Shaykhs are Kings in Divine Presence, and when Kings speak to one another they speak in a very diplomatic way. So when Shaykh Hisham says "Shaykh Nazim is the Shaykh. I am not the Shaykh. I am nothing." No doubt that Shaykh Nazim is the Sultan, but don't think that Shaykh Hisham is nothing!

Know Your Limits

In this Heavenly Kingdom we are asking to be Ghulam or Servant for the Kingdom. Servants must know there place. Image you hire a servant and that servant Keeps asking you Questions? Firstly, why would servant ask questions, who are YOU to ask , your job is to serve. So our sickness begins to overtake us thinking we are something so we begin to ask. Who are You, Who owns this House, What is your rank or
station, Who are these people and what do they do. This is an example of a very nosey and rude servant, that asking questions which have nothing to do with you, we are servants here to serve. Serve with all your heart the Sultan of Awliya , if not in his presence then our duty is to Serve His Servants.

It is confusing some people and they are asking "who is the Shaykh?" We must remember that our number one duty is to be a servant, and a servant has no business getting involved in the diplomatic relationship of Kings. That is something way above your station. Your station is that of a servant, and your job is to clean the palace. Don't start asking "who owns the house? Who has authority in this house? What is the rank of the people living in this house?" Who cares? Why are you asking? There is no way for you to know the station of your Teachers, and you're not going to inherit the house anyway. Stay busy with yourself, turn your attention inward, rather than trying to inspect the Shaykh. It means, do the awrad and the spiritual practices and come to the associations to serve people.

Inspectors of Shaykhs

Come to Be Less Than ZERO But many people are wanting to inspect the Shaykh because they still have pride. We are so pumped-up with pride that it is difficult for us to sit in a Heavenly association and be nothing. We are trying to be something when the reality is to be nothing. But it is difficult to be nothing because from childhood we are pumped-up into such big balloons. Everyone tells you "you're so great!" or "look at this
amazing artwork! I'm so proud of you! You're going to be something someday!" You are pumped-up so much that you forgot about the afterlife, and that is the deceit of this world. You become so pumped-up that you only see yourself, you don't see anything else. But the more inflated you become, the farther away you are from Divine Presence. That is why Jesus (as) said,

"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a pride-filled person to enter Paradise."

All the Prophets were teaching us to be nothing in the face of God's Greatness. That is why, in Sufism, all of the Prophets are tremendously important because they give us spiritual realities which nourish our souls. Perhaps the most important for our time is the story of the Prophet Moses (as) and his dialogue with Pharaoh. What was Pharaoh saying? "I am the Lord, Most High!" We make our ego to be Pharaoh, saying "I am your Lord, Most High" and everyone is following their ego. Whatever the ego desires, they submit to that desire.

So then the Quran asks us,

"Have you seen the people who make their desires their Lord?" (The Criterion 25:43)

The ego wants us to be something, but the Prophets and the saints are teaching us to be nothing. When you are nothing, in reality you are everything. This means you must be able to crush yourself by humiliating
“the Self “ in the presence of others.  To be inspired to come on the path is not something small. It is a
tremendous gift from the Divine and it comes with tremendous responsibility because this path is going to deflate you back to nothing. How? Through obedience to the guide. Some people don't like the concept of being obedient to someone. In reality, we are obedient, but only to our ego – so we must always identify the sickness. You are sick because you are obedient only to yourself, saying "I know what my issues are. I know what I need and I will self-medicate myself." But that is not a remedy for success. Even doctors go to another doctor when they are sick, and they have big egos!

To reach towards Divine Presence you must say to your ego, "I am nothing," and we only learn how to say that by following a guide. That is why the Shaykh will often say "I am nothing. I am a XOXO. I am gulam," because they are teaching us how to be nothing. But because we are still very much connected to this world, we interpret what they say according to the standards of this world. So when the Shaykh says "I am nothing. I am a xoxo," immediately people believe he is nothing because in this world you are taught to build yourself up into something, and then you are taught to tell other people that you are something. That is why you make a business card and put your name and all your titles on it and you pass it out to people. But Sufism is the exact opposite of that reality. It teaches you to become nothing, to annihilate yourself so that you no longer exist, because your individuality – your ego – stands in the way of connecting with Divine Presence. So materialistic people come to the association, and the Shaykh gives a talk where he says "God is my witness. I am saying that I am not the Shaykh. I am nothing. That one is the Shaykh." And people get confused, so they go to the other Shaykh and he also tells them, "I am not the Shaykh. I am nothing. That one is the Shaykh" because these Masters are not competing in being Shaykhs, they are competing in being nothing. They are existing in
the negative. The more Nothingness more Fana in Divine Eternal Oceans.

It is like a linear equation. In this material world, they want you to become something, and the more you become something, the more you move to the right of "0": 0,1,2,3,4... the more you pump yourself up the further you are from "0". In arabic, there is no "0", there is just a nuqt - a dot. Sufism starts to the left of that dot. The Saints begin at negative 1 and continue all the way to -124, 000 because there are 124,000 Saints. So the one who is negative 124,000 is the one in the highest possible state of annihilation, and we call that rank the Sultan of Saints, which is the rank held by our Sultan, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Haqqqani.

Understanding Huwa Hu [ He is He]

These Shaykhs are the Masters of annihilation; they love to efface themselves. When you go to see Shaykh Hisham, you are not going to see Hisham Kabbani, born 60 years ago by his mother, so-and-so. That person
doesn't exist anymore; he died 30 years ago. But if you're looking for Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, you will find him reflected in Shaykh Hisham and Shaykh Adnan , because they are annihilated in Shaykh Nazim.

“My slave draw near Me with anything I love more than what I have made obligatory for him. My slave continues to draw near me with super obligatory actions until I love him. When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his Sight by which he sees, his Hands with which he strikes, and his Feet with which he walks. He will become Rabanniun and say be and it will be ” (Sahih al-Bukhari, 81:38:2)

That is the reality of annihilation. If you annihilate your ego, the light of your Shaykh will flow through you because you are no longer existing. This is the secret of the "huwa hu." Hu means the Divine essence which
cannot be encompassed and cannot be seen. That essence manifests in creation as a reflection through Prophet (s) and the saints are reflecting the light of Prophet (s). Prophet (s) must always have a presence in this world, a khalifa, a representative. That representative is called Sultan ul-awliya, the Sultan of all 124,000 Saints. The Sultan of Saints is the perfected reflection of Prophet (s). He is annihilated in the light of the
Prophet (s), so when you are in his presence it means you are in the presence of Prophet (s). Then that light is reflecting from the Sultan to his authorized deputies, likw Mawlana Shaykh Hisham . The Sultan is The Sun for all Awliya, Shaykh Hisham is His Moons. They are perfect reflections of His Holy Lights.
They are refecting the light of Mawlana Shaykn Nazim, like a series of Heavenly mirrors which reflect the same image thousands of times. Therefore, when you are in the the presence of moon it is reflecting the
ONE light of the Sun. The Moon will tell you that is not a source of light but the reflection of the Sun. The Sultan of Awliya.

When in The Presence of Shaykh Hisham you are actually in the presence of Shaykh Nazim. Shaykh Nazim is hearing through his ears and seeing through his eyes. One-time we were with Mawlana and he was going to Disneyland, and some mureeds were with Shaykh Nazim in Cyprus and they said that Shaykh Nazim was saying, "Why are they sending me to Disneyland? I ‘m going to Disneyland." But he was in Cyprus!
That is the secret of what we call tawhid – oneness. There is only one God, there is not two Gods. Ahadiya Unique Oneness.  There is only One RasulAllah, Wahidiya Oneness Likewise, there is only one Shaykh. There cannot be two Shaykhs.  They are all reflections of the same light.

We have to know, for Shaykh Hisham to have reached that station means he is more powerful than you can ever imagine. He is not like you! But secretly the ego is not accepting anyone to be its Shaykh. But then why did Shaykh Nazim appoint Shaykh Hisham to represent him in this area? Remember that Satan also refused to bow to Adam (as) and wanted his connection directly to God. It means, if you'll cut out your Shaykh and go directly to the Sutlan, if you get the chance you'll cut out the Sultan too! The saints don't accept that character, so they bring it out into the open. Like we said, these saints are Masters of annihilation and they love to efface themselves. They compete in being nothing. How do you make your ego to be nothing? Through humilation.

Humility is not serving tea to people, humility comes through being humiliated. So if you go to Cyprus with that understanding, you will see how truly amazing Grandshaykh is. When you go to Cyprus to see Mawlana
Shaykh Nazim, you see he is surrounded by crooks! People come and give him

Grandshaykh acts like he doesn't know what's going on. Of course he knows what's happening! His soul is powering this universe! But people go there, and they see he wears a funny bell on the top of his turban, and a whistle and they are thinking, "this is the Sultan?" Because they are seeing with material hearts. He wants you to think he is nothing. If Mawlana Shaykh Nazim is the Sultan of all the Saints, it means he is negative 124,000; he is the one able to take the most humiliation and the most abuse from people. So he purposely humiliates himself in front of people by dressing funny and surrounding himself with crooks and pretending
like he doesn`t know whats going on because the saints know that they aren't going to raise all of their followers to sainthood. Maybe 1 or 2 or 3, but more likely only 1 student is going to reach that station. So what about the rest? The miraculous nature of these Saints is that they actually encourage people to throw rocks at them.

You read the stories of Bayazid al-Bistami or Al-Hallaj? They were big saints in their time and they were stoned by their people. Our Masters have had horrible insults and abuse hurled upon them. These Shaykhs are like Kings in Divine Presence, so when they are wronged God is going to say, "you have something against this person and you are very dear to Me. Would you like this person to be punished?" And they are going to plead for that person's forgiveness and carry them into Paradise. Through their intercession, all of their followers are going to be granted Paradise. That is just one of the realities of their sainthood. Fatiha.

Two Types of Guidance; Material and Heavenly

Two types of Guidance, Material & Heavenly from Sufi Meditation Center on Vimeo.
Two Types of Guidance; Material and Heavenly
 
From the Teachings of Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
Shaykh Nurjan Mirahmadi
Sufi Meditation Center, Vancouver, BC

http://vimeo.com/37778375

 Always speaking to myself first, as a reminder for me, and if anyone takes
any benefit, then *alhamdulillah*. Mawlana Shaykh is reminding us that
there are two types of guidance in life; there are those who are
spiritually guided, enlightened people.

They inspire within us the desire to achieve realities upon the soul and
the dress upon the soul and to move towards our heavenly destination.

The other type of guidance, which is in the majority, also comes from good
people, we can’t say they are not enlightened, but they are not the same as
spiritual masters. The conquering of the ego and the opening of the faith
allows guidance towards humanity, to move towards your spiritual reality
and towards that which is eternal, leaving that which is perishable. The
focus is always upon the soul and less focus on the body and the bodily
needs because the body perishes and goes to the dirt. All that is achieved
for the body will be wasted; it is used for 70 years or for 80 or 90 years.
And after 70 years there is not much fun left in what you have achieved
anyway. The focus is on the reality of the soul; to achieve all that is
eternal, and the dressings and the blessings of guidance. *The other type
of advice in life leads us away from that which is eternal and that
guidance has to do with the body and the physicality; its physical desires
and physical achievements. *
 
With spiritual advice you have nothing to lose. Spiritual advisors and
guides come and teach and give missal (examples) and they teach you that,
“This material world with its money and its desires and achievements is not
going anywhere; and at any time if you don’t like your spiritual path, -
and you don’t want to achieve that reality upon your soul at some point - *then
the drugs are always there waiting and the night clubs are always open, the
shops or stores for purchases are always available.” It means that the
material world is not going anywhere and you will not miss anything*. So
their spiritual advice has little to know consequences. You follow it and
if you grow from it, *alhamdulillah*, and you find benefit in it, *
alhamdulillah*. If at any time you say, “O maybe I don’t want to be here,
or dress the reality of my soul,” all those desires and vices are open 24
hours and you can run to them and you have lost nothing.

For material people with non-enlightened guidance, it is always towards
material desires saying, “Leave that which is eternal,” because it is not
understood. They use the faculty of the mind instead of the reality of the
heart and they advice, “Why are you moving towards that which we don’t see,
and what we don’t understand. Why don’t you choose what is tangible which
we can feel by touching.” It means that they advice us to leave that which
is eternal and what benefits the soul, and choose the material. *The
consequence of that guidance is that you lose everything.* It’s not the
same. If somebody gives advice and he is not a spiritual advisor and you
hear their advice,

“Why do you have to do that? Why do you have to pray like that?

Why do you have to give like that?

Why do you have to be of service like that?

Why do you have to participate like that?” *And the guidance that they are
giving is to leave all that is eternal, and asking us to choose that which
is perishable; the material world*. *And that is the biggest loss which is
upon the soul. *
 
And if the Divine opens a Grant in which we find ourselves to be a seeker,
it means it’s not so cheap or easy where anybody out there on the street
finds himself to be a seeker of the Divine. It’s what we believe in and is
called *ne’mat*; it means the Divine throws a love within our heart, of His
Divine Presence. If that love is not there within the heart there is no way
you will find yourself seeking to sit in a circle with chanting. If that
love isn’t there, you wouldn’t seek out that reality. So then the Divine
throws that love within the soul,

“Seek Me out, come towards Me, I am providing an opening, an opportunity, a
grant, a lottery; take it and move towards My Reality, towards My Oceans of
Power and that which is eternal and I will Grant you that what you can
never imagine, it’s Eternity, it is *Da’im*; I will Grant you a Light that
will make your light to be eternal and you will eternally benefit from that
Reality.” It shows that there is a huge difference. (Spiritual) Guidance
comes and says, “Choose that and move towards that which is Eternal and
move into the Oceans of Faith,” and everything else says, “Leave that which
is Eternal and choose the material world. “ And every step you move towards
the material world you have moved a step away from your eternal reality.

If you keep stepping away until one day you find that door is shut. *It is
not like the material world where you can leave it and come back anytime*,
but for the spiritual one it is virtually impossible; if you step away and
step away and step away you find that door shut and the heart of certain
people – because we deal with people all the time- that when it shuts, and
they have stepped so far away, the opening has gone. And they no longer
find any interest in moving towards the reality of their soul; they find no
interest in anything to do with faith and it is as if they have walked away
from that opening. And that is a tremendous loss. *They Walked away from
Dhikr, from associations, from Blessings the Divine was Granting them, to
be of service to Pious Associations all closed....*

The Divine is saying, “You have sold yourself for a small price, you chose
that which is temporary and perishing,” [ They Chose Money over Ahkira] and
in the Divine Presence it *looks like garbage.* It means you have chosen to
stay within the prison and the confines of the prison, and its filthiness,
and “The gate that was open for you to escape and move into My Divinely
Presence, you have chosen to walk away from that.” And then one day that
door shuts and the gate is closed and *that servant no longer finds any
desire to move towards the Divine Presence*.
 
And these two oceans are so different, and the one not in the Ocean of
Light understands nothing about that path and tells you,

“Why do you have to do that?

Why do you have to be of service?

Why do you have to take less money or

why do you have to sacrifice and

why do you have to control your desires?”

Because nothing from that ocean of faith makes any sense to them. They
don’t see the miracle, nor do they feel it, or understand with the
foresight, to (later) witness that miracle. And everything that they think
of is a choice from the material world.

The people of guidance see with their heart, they see the Promised Land. If
you take a look at the words of Martin Luther King, “I have a dream and I
might not get there with you.... but I have seen it.” It means enlightened
individuals they have their heart opened; they see that Paradise; they see
that reality and every step of guidance they give us is teaching us, “Get
closer…. you are moving towards your reality, you are moving towards
miraculous oceans,” where you put your focus on the *Divine in your life
and He will turn His Divine Focus onto you.*

 The Divine is saying, “If you put your focus on Me, worship Me, serve me,
pray to Me and give everything of your being to Me, I will put everything
onto you, of My *Nazar*, My Gaze of My Divine Majestic Energies and
Realities. If you focus on Me, I will focus on you.” And that becomes the
miraculous ocean. Our lives and the lives of Sufi teachers live that
reality; their whole life is being trained to focus on the Divine; if you
have work, work for the Divine and the Divine will pay you from ways you
cannot imagine! “*Eat My food and I will nourish you; work for Me and I
will pay you; serve Me and I will grant you, raise you, dress you, and
bless you, and lift you towards your reality.” *

And then material people come and their guidance is,

“Why do you have to do that?

Who is going to provide for you?

Go out and provide for yourself.

Go out and struggle and take care of yourself,” and thus the whole weight
of this world will fall upon you. And as you struggle to provide for
yourself with your housing, your food, and every other expense, and the
Divine says, “If you focus upon yourself, there is no *need for Me to focus
upon you, you are taking care of it yourself, lets step back and see what
you can do.”* These are completely different oceans; one is challenging the
Divine Presence. Whereas the enlightened masters teach us, “*Don’t
challenge the Divine Presence.* Don’t try to hold this *dunya* with your
hands it’s so heavy that it crushes everybody who moves towards it.”
Everyone thinks they can master this material world, and they will handle
it and they will find the balance, and they begin to lift it not realizing
that its entire creation is (made) to destroy us, because it is not going
to be in competition with the Divine, it was made to challenge us. The
Divine says, “I created this life like a dazzling allurement, if you choose
it, it begins to crush you.” And you find that it teaches you, “You work
hard, come and work for me and work hard, struggle and strive to make
money. And work harder and then with that money pay all these expenses,
receive all these bills, put it all on these credit cards and at the end,
one day when you are beaten and worn and completely dissolved, *you can
retire somewhere and enjoy your time doing .....” *

And spiritual masters come and teach, “Why do you have to do all that? Why
don’t you just focus on the Divine and the Divine wants nothing more than
your *ibaadat*, ‘Worship Me, pray to Me, chant to Me, praise Me and I will
provide for you from ways you never imagined,’ and your sustenance begins
to come towards you; your *rizq*, your house, your food, everything will be
provided, the more you can go into that reality.” Look at their lives and
they are the example of that reality. The more you can focus on the Divine,
the Divine focuses on you. The more we focus upon ourselves, the more we
find ourselves distant from the Divine. And this *dunya* is becoming much
heavier and much more difficult and the distance between the guidance’s is
so huge and distinct that it is unimaginable. The guidance from Divinely
guided, enlightened souls tells us, *“Drop your material desires, make your
life to have a purpose and that purpose should only be to be of service to
the Divine Presence.”* If you can move into that ocean, give everything
else up other than that service. And then all the material desires and the
material guidance come and teach,

“No, that is what is making you sick and tired and poor.

Because you helped them, now you are poor, without energy and feeling sick;
you don’t have time for yourself.” Every type of attack is going to come
from the ego to stop that process.
 
 We pray that we are clever enough to understand that as much of our life
that we spend on focusing on the Divine, the Divine is going to open and
the opening is going to require us to jump through loops, and jump over
obstacles, and move steadily towards that Divine Reality. And then to seek
refuge from all guidance which is other than the Divinely Enlightened
guidance towards Light. And if that person is not from that reality, and
not dressed with that reality to give guidance, then know that everything
that they are going to talk about is from a material perspective. And then
the material perspective is going to be extremely opposite of your divine
reality because there is no faith, *if they can’t see the miracle, why
would they ask you to be walking in it? *
 

When Sayyidina Isa/ Jesus Crist (as) came out to his companions, they were
on a ship on a stormy ocean and he came out to them and said, *“Take my
hand and walk on water with me,”* and if they were walking on water, they
were walking with Divine Grace and everything they do is based on God’s
miracles. And God works in miraculous ways! It means that as soon as we
take that path and take those steps, then we must know that our lives are
going to be miraculous. And for those who are not “walking on water,” then
everything for them and their way of thinking is, “What you are doing is
crazy; your effort, your commitment, and your participation are a waste of
time.”

If you spend twenty hours a day working in a law office and never see
anyone they think, *“This is fantastic you are making so much money.” *That
is wonderful, you are committed.

If you work twenty hours a day to be of service for God, serving in a soup
kitchen, or serving in a *zawiya* or serving in a mosque, they think you’ve
lost your mind, “Why would you do that? Why would you give up this material
world in the pursuit of what they deem to be nothing, – nothingness; you
are facing a bucket that is empty because they don’t see the gold. We pray
that we understand and that our hearts open and move deeper into that
reality as this *dunya* becomes heavier and heavier and more and more
difficult. *Subhaana Rabbika Rabbil izzati amma yasifoon wa Salaamun alal
mursaleen wal Hamdulillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen. *